Over the course of 3 years, we will conduct a series of QR coding projects and outreach workshops in and around Johannesburg to encourage heritage institutions (government and private sectors) to contribute high-quality content to English and local small languages Wikipedias in the bid to build the first MetropediA in Africa.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Monmouthpedia is the first Wikipedia project to embrace a whole town, specifically the Welsh town of Monmouth. This was done through installing Cream plaques containing QRCodes next to buildings and other objects and linking these to Wikipedia articles. A QR Code (it stands for "Quick Response") is a cell phone readable bar code that can store website URL's, when scanned by a smart phone, it will direct the browser of the smart phone to the url.

This project brings together the success of cream plaques with the intrinsic Histical value of Blue plaques. Blue plaques are used to commemorate significant sites (sites can be significant to a community for a whole host of reasons). It is an invitation to people to discover more about a site and its history. The iconic look is the circular shape with white writing on a blue background. It is currently estimated that there are about 150 to 200 blue plaques in and around Johannesburg.

Aim

The aim of this project is to increase Wikipedia coverage of iconic buildings around Johanesburg with historic and heritage importance. QR codes will be installed next to blue plaques in Johannesburg city in a bid to create the first MetropediA in Africa between the years 2013 through to 2015.

Impact and Monitoring

This project is expected to feed off to other heritage Wiki projects, especially the Wiki Loves Monuments photo competition around monuments within and around the Johannesburg area. The impact this project could have on local small wikis is not easy to quantify currently, except to say that it will provide local wikimedians working in small language projects, an ever fresh spring of information and material to write about.

Fit to strategy

How will this project support the key organizational objectives of,

increasing reach (more people being able to access or contribute to Wikipedia or our other projects),

participation (more people actually contributing),

quality (more useful content or higher quality existing content),

credibility (more trust in our projects),

organizational maturity and effectiveness (how it will move your chapter or the Wikimedia community as a whole forward),

or financial sustainability (how it will help your chapter achieve more in the long run)?

This statement should address at least one of the strategic priorities listed here specifically.

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Benefits

If your project will benefit a specific online community, please list that here. For example, English Wiktionary.